official_furbyfandomcom-20200215-history
Furby (1998)
This article is about the 1998 Furby Line. For the 1999 Furby Babies click here. For the 2005 Furby's, click here. For the 2012 Furby's, click here. For the 2016 Furby Connect's, click here. Furby is an electronic friend released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics Inc. There were over 46 colors for the Adult Line and 24 for the Baby Line, with 24 Special Editions, and many unreleased models. Its success in the 1998, 1999 and 2000 holiday seasons was due to its ability to "learn English", and the fact that each Furby can have a different name, eye color and voice pitch. Release Released on October 2nd, 1998, the Furby was a major success both critically and commercially. They were initially sold for $30, but increased to over $100. Units flew off the shelves which resulted in high demand and heavy shortages. In 1998 and 1999, the brand sold over 40 Million Units. From 2000 to 2001, the brand sold 5 million of the virtual pets, and in 2002 the popularity diminished, and the Furby franchise was fully discontinued. Age Bracket Originally, Furbies were aimed more at girls and young children aged 5-13 years old, however, burping and raspberry sounds were added in for balance. Even adults still love the Furby, and some have started fan clubs and forums all about them. Personality Furby 1998 mainly has only 1 personality, which is a calm and friendly Furby. It can be slightly changed by treating Furby differently depending on what it does. Special Editions Main article: 1998 Furby Special Editions The line produced 24 Special Editions, which range from all different genres of events, with 4 being hard to find, and 1 being impossible to find (the Bejeweled Furby). Unreleased Furbies Gen. 9 and 10 Furbys never made it to the market, but prototypes were made. Besides the Lion Furby (Gen. 10), all other Furbys from Gen. 9-10 only had 1 prototype ever made. Trivia * The Speech Synthesizer is very similar to most electronic devices produced in the 1980s like the Speak and Spell. ** The same exact speech synthesizer was used in Mr. Potato Head and Monopoly handhelds in 1997, the year before Furbys were first sold in stores. *** The speech codec is very similar to LPC-10, and CELP (At 2 kbps) * In 1998, Tiger and Nabisco partnered up to put Furby images on boxes of Oreos and Nutter Butters. * Furbys official release was on October 2nd, 1998. * Between fur colors, voice pitches, and eye colors, there are over 1000 unique Furby combinations that exist. * The Tattletails in the game Tattletail were inspired by the original 1998 Furbys. * Many Furby fakes were made to easily make cash quickly and the response was to put on the purple plastic tags saying ”Furby Original“ with a picture of a Furby on the tag. Hasbro took responsibility and has shred over 20k Furby fakes and counterfeits publicly in London. * According to a media director at MIT in 1999, the processing power of a Furby was more than that of the first lunar module to land on the moon. * In 1999, Furbys were banned by The Pentagon, Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and the NSA. This was because people were concerned that Furbys might be capable of recording sensitive information. * In Sweden, Swedish-speaking Furbys were packaged under the name "Furbee", instead of "Furby", to avoid confusion with the eponymous place. * From 1998-1999, Furby remained the top toy for two years, and over twelve million Furbys were sold internationally from October 1998 to December 1999. * If you could lay 12 million Furbys from head to toe, they would wrap around Earth 783 times. * Between fur colors, eye colors and the sound of its voice, there are over 1000 different combinations of Furby toys available. * Furby is capable of using more than 300 different unique combinations of ear, mouth and eye movements. * A YouTube user named Simply Nailogical starred in two Furby commercials including an unaired Furby commercial which had prototype Furbys in it and another Furby commercial that had aired on TV. Swedish Forb.jpg|A Swedish Furby Names Main article: List of 1998 Furby names Gallery rer.jpg Domohkah.gif furby (2).jpg images (14).jpg furbbbb.jpg furby (1).jpg Furby 12.png Furby4.png Furby11.jpg Furby10.jpg Furby3.jpg Furby6.jpg Furby9.jpg Furby5.jpg Furby8.jpg Furby7.jpg ImagesCAWXAH2C.jpg|Color Change Furby|link=Color Change article-2171464-1400F35D000005DC-412_634x470.jpg 5392829105 df496c7342 z.jpg furby 1998 and shelby.jpg|''Furby 1998 and Shelby'' gen1group.jpg|Generation one Furby Lizard.png Black White Furby whit brown eyes.jpg Article-0-001452C700000258-656 634x349.jpg Article-2171464-1400F36A000005DC-356 634x442.jpg Article-2171464-1400F35D000005DC-412 634x470.jpg Frog Furby.jpg furby-1998.jpg 220px-Furby_mak-ffm.jpg 1.jpg FMSUDXEFVDBZR0P.LARGE.jpg|tie die 1998 furby Kiwi_Furby.jpg 2006AE9738_jpg_ds.jpg 6c461f3ed458698e0d64d453710b054f--furby-i-had.jpg tye_dye_furby_by_katasu1-d4rqi0b.jpg 288objt.jpg Intertoys.jpg|A Furby and a Furby Buddy appearing on the front of an Intertoys magazine (published in 1999) mary beths world for kids.jpg|Furby appears on the front cover of a magazine called Mary Beth's Beanie World For Kids (published in March, 1999) japanese 1999 tomy catalogue.jpg|Furby appears on the front cover of a Japanese toy catalog by Tomy (1999) hot toys furby.jpg|Furby appearing on the front of a Hot Toys magazine (February 1999) asia week magazine.jpg|Furby appears in an Asiaweek magazine (1998) italian advertisment .jpg|An Italian Furby advertisement 1998furby.jpg|Dana Munshaw and two prototype 1998 Furby's prototype furbys.jpg|Dana Munshaw and some prototype 1998 Furbys at the American International Toy Fair in New York (Credits: Aflo and Reuters) 1998 prototype.jpg|A gray and white 1998 Furby prototype with green eyelids brown prototype.jpg|A brown and white prototype 1998 Furby s-l1600 (3) (1).jpg|An official Furby poster 8v.jpg|An advertisement taken from a Thai Disney comic book Category:Furby 1998 Category:Tiger Electronics Category:Furby Category:Hasbro Category:White Furbies Category:Tiger